Anyone contributed to the OLPC?

exactly that IS the point!

 

And you propose to increase this by depriving them of laptops in the first place? Interesting approach.

 

Until such time as they would be beneficial to proper education, yes I would. I'll spare my general opinions about international charity donations, but quite frankly, this program was not thought out at all and really was implemented as yet another "feel good" charity with little chance of success and no significant impact on the societies targeted.

 

I can sympathise with the "that money should be spent on essential things" kind of post, but the idea that exposing kids to computers is a bad thing really does confuse me. At worst they get something for free, and some of them may learn a valuable skill set. I don't understand where you're coming from at all.

 

It's because computers are not "magic bullets" for education; they are merely another tool for learning. I have seen time and time again schools (US) that have gone as far as providing a laptop to each student only to have the program shut down due to worse performance and unnecessary costs. I understand that a laptop can be a useful tool for learning, but to simply give them away and expect learning to improve is foolhardy.

 

I disagree, and I also think that the comparison to US schools (where computers are commonplace anyway) is inapplicable. Most of these kids are absolutely desperate to learn, and I can't imagine any way in which a laptop would be detrimental to this end.